Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)
Olcsai Kiss’s work was destroyed by vandals in autumn 1991. Its fragments were taken to the district’s local history museum. Fortunately a duplicate stands intact in a spot behind the main entrance to the International Expo Centre (Albertirsai út 10, District X). Apropos of ceramics, the Margit Kovács ceramic museum in the small town of Szentendre to the north of Budapest is an obligatory destination for almost every visitor to the Hungarian capital. And yet few of the many visitors realise that ceramic compositions by Margit Kovács can also be seen in the public spaces of Budapest itself. Those in the inner city include a plaque on the wall of the Mayoral Office of Budapest in Városház utca, a relief in the wall of the building at Vármegye utca 15, or another relief, unveiled in 1937 at Régiposta utca 13, which features, incidentally, two horses drawing a stagecoach. Then again, near the Bécsi kapu (Vienna Gate) of Buda Castle there is a one-and-a-half metre tall and less than a metre wide aperture in the wall of the Anjou Bastion, which hosts a glazed ceramic relief, built into the opening to commemorate the Siege of Buda Castle and its eventual retaking in 1686, after 150 years of Turkish occupation. The piece exudes a fairy-tale aura. In the foreground are Ottoman and Christian cavalrymen fighting each other, and there is a battle being fought on the fortress walls in the background, too. The work is a genre composition executed in Margit Kovács’s uniquely charming style, without any effort at creating dramatic tension or achieving historical faithfulness. The piece, however, is of much interest as it represents an approach to depicting horses and horsemen unique in the genre. The inscription: The name is The Castle of Buda and it honours the memory of the siege of 1686. But 1977 also saw the unveiling of a bronze equestrian statue in Budapest. István Tar’s Horseman was erected in the Nezsider park (District XIV) to brighten the dullness of the housing estate. Set upon a low pediment, the slightly less than two-metre high piece is of a purposely rigid, static design. We cannot properly speak of a horse-likeness here in the original sense of the word, as a real-life horse would never stand in a position like this. The figure of the 54
